Nairobi Transportation

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In case you take a taxi check if it is a good car and agree on price and safety before you leave. When you have a solid driver keep him for the days you need him. Keep your doors and windows closed in city traffic.

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Bus # 34 from Moi Avenue / beside Ambsedure Hotel to Airport, look for the Number Sign held by the attendants.

This is normal commuter Bus 3+2 seats in a row, no space for storing luggage but you can buy 2 seats if required. KS 50 per person. I have got the space behind the door to keep my luggage, and the Bus was not full too.

There are 3 companies plying on this route, the KBS, City Hoppa and Double M Express, it take about 50 minutes, drop off at International Departure Unit 1 & 2/Domestic Departure, its a loop bus which can be taken for going to Nairobi Central and frequency is quite goods (every fifteen minutes) and Safe. No Ticket is issued, pay at the bus to the attendant.

Taxi Cost to air port KS 1,100/from air port 1,400 Minimum

A general idea of Fares to/from CBD as the Nairobi Taxis do not have meter.

To Jomo Kenyatta International Airport KS1,100
From Airport 1,400 (They ask 1,500)

ABC Shopping Centre KS600

Adams Arcade KS600

Bomas of Kenya KS1,000

Bububuru/ Jericho KS1,000

City Stadium KS500

Dagoretti Corner KS900

Eastleigh KS700

Firestone KS800

Hurlingham KS400

Kangemi KS900

Karen KS1,400

Kariobangi KS1,100

Kawangware KS900

KCB/ Glaxowelcome KS800

KCCT Mbagathi KS1,400

Kenyatta University KS1,600

Kileleshwa KS500

Kilimani/ Yaya Centre KS500

Komarock/ Kayole KS1,400

Lavington KS800

Loresho KS1,000

Lower Kabete KIA KS800

Lunga lunga KS800

Muthaiga KS700

Nairobi West/ Madaraka KS500

Parklands/Aga Khan KS500

Riverside KS500

Ruaraka G.S.U KS900

Safari Park KS900

South B/C / Parkside KS600

Southlands/ Otiende KS900

Spring Valley Peponi Road KS600

Tetra Pak KS700

Umoja/ Doonholm KS1,200

UNEP Gigiri/ Village Market KS800

Utalii Hotel KS800

Valley Arcade KS600

Westlands KS500

Wilson Airport/ Carnivore KS700

Windsor KS1,000

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The Matato's are the cheapest way to travel in Nairobi, These are TOYOTA Hiace Vans mostly White with Yellow Stripe (some are Blue with Yellow Stripe) KS 20 to any destination and they go every where, the main terminal is at Accra Roas/River Road, just ask any conductor and they will guide you to the one to your destination.

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Kenya has a system of wildlife corridors between parks and reserves, where wild animals (including sizeable beasts such as buffalo) have the opportunity to cross public roads which is farsighted from a conservation point of view. Even outside of reserves, Kenya's wonderful wildlife endowment is such that it is not unusual to encounter wildlife in rural areas ... the downside is that they have absolutely no traffic sense, and present the sort of opportunity for a closeup wildlife encounter that you really don't want to avail yourself of!

In Kenya, the buzz phrase in conservation circles is 'human/wildlife conflict', and roads present the ideal opportunity for this scenario to play out. So be sure to travel slowly and be particularly vigilant along sections of road designated as wildlife corridors (and indeed, in rural areas where wildlife or livestock may decide to play with the traffic). Also remember that you may encounter all sorts of wildlife along the roads (one of the charms of travelling in Kenya), so don't just worry about large herbivores - imagine the damage that a collision with the suicidal tortoise (pictured) could have caused to you, your car and him!

Also bear in mid that animals are dazzled and bemused by headlights, which mess with their distance judgement. So if you decide to travel after dark - which I would strongly recommend you don't - the chances of an antelope misjudging your proximity and trying to leap over your bonnet (and defaulting to join you in the front seat via the windscreen) are very real and potentially catastrophic.

For fear of boring you, because of the risk of colliding with pedestrians/livestock/wildlife on unlit roads after dark, I would strongly advise that you simply don’t even consider venturing out on the roads after sundown.

There are times in Kenya when ‘playing chicken’ in the traffic will literally involve chickens … and donkeys … and cows … and goats … and dogs … and children …

Firstly, forget any first world concept of who or what 'has priority’. The simple truth is that if you hit anyone or anything, you are liable. You are obliged to report the incident to the police, which will at best involve paying compensation to the animal’s owner (or, infinitely worse, confronting the child’s bereaved parents) and could quite likely result in criminal charges (including murder) and you being jailed in the interim to avoid you skipping the country. It therefore goes without saying that you should exercise extreme caution when driving through areas (particularly settlements) where there is potential for livestock, wildlife or pedestrians on the road. Slow down and be extra vigilant so that you can anticipate – and hopefully avoid – potential collisions.

The most random of all are pedestrians – especially children, who get easily distracted, and generally don’t have much road sense. During the day, African society tends to congregate along the roadside, so be aware that there can be surprisingly large numbers of people around even in fairly small settlements.

So, let's step through the hierarchy of traffic cluenessness from the bottom up. By far and away the most random and stupid livestock you are likely to encounter are sheep: my experience is that sheep have suicidal tendencies, and if given a choice, will almost invariably put themselves into the situation that poses greatest danger to its welfare!

One step up from sheep are cows and donkeys have precious little road sense, but tend to be a little slower moving and slightly more predictable in their movements (admittedly this is fairly faint praise).

Despite the fact that they wander across roads with gay abandon, goats are generally nimble and canny, and in 25 years of driving in Africa, I have never come anywhere near to running over a goat or known anyone who has (although I have seen many accidents caused by people swerving to avoid one). My personal feeling is that goats are well able to look after themselves, and so you’re much more likely to do greater damage to yourself, your vehicle and other bystanders by trying to avoid them.

Because of the risk of colliding with pedestrians/livestock/wildlife on unlit roads after dark, I would strongly advise that you simply don’t even consider venturing out on the roads after sundown.

Kenyan road traffic calming measures are pretty rudimentary and low maintenance, as befits a developing country where maintenance of complex equipment (such as traffic lights) could be a challenge. The favoured options are roundabouts (in towns - see other transport tip) and speed bumps (everywhere else).

Speed bumps work better in less trafficked areas, and usually mark the entrance to and exit from a town/village or other high risk area (such as a school or road intersection). Speed bumps vary from the benign ‘let me rattle your wheels a bit to make sure that you’re still awake’ variety to those which resemble the foothills of a mountain chain and are ergonomically designed by sadists to inflict maximum damage on you and your vehicle.

Speed bumps are very rarely signed and may often not be particularly visible, especially if they are located along a shady section of road. The most reliable way to identify them is to keep an eye out for the telltale extensions of tarmac protruding out from the side of the road (see photo).

It's worth bearing in mind that hitting a speed bump at high speed could well result in you fracturing your oil sump, which is no laughing matter, and a situation best avoided, so slow down (which is, after all, the effect that they were trying to achieve in the first place)!

Because my experience of the country is limited to Nairobi and the central part of the Rift Valley, I can’t claim to comment authoritatively on the standard of the entire Kenyan road system. The bits we drove were of a pretty reasonable standard (compared to other African nations), but a few pointers may be of use if you're considering a self drive option.

Kenyan roads are generally well constructed, although the universally poor state of maintenance (both in towns and the rural areas) is clearly an issue.

The biggest challenge to safe driving (and rapid progress) is the huge volume of heavy vehicle traffic on the roads. On uphill stretches, some vehicles struggle to maintain more than a walking pace, thus frustrating vehicles trapped behind into unsafe overtaking manoeuvres. Seeing vehicles attempting to overtake on a blind rise just before a sharp corner when their acceleration is only marginally better than that of the vehicle they’re trying to overtake is a truly terrifying experience, but unfortunately, all too common.

Mindful of this challenge in a country that has some pretty fierce topography, it is hard to understand why the road authorities have not made more of an effort to introduce ‘crawler lanes’ which allow ordinary vehicles to safely overtake heavy trucks on uphill stretches, but ours is not to reason why (complete that well known quotation at your peril!)

Unlike much of Southern Africa, where single lane roads are engineered with a wide ‘hard shoulder’ onto which slow moving traffic can temporarily pull over in order to allow ordinary traffic to pass, the road edges in Kenya are sharply cambered. Thus, any vehicle pulling over to the left to allow other traffic to pass runs a more than even risk of careering off the road altogether, so attempt this maneouvre at your peril!